Hot List: 5 U.S. Favorites

One of chef Sean O'Brien's jewel-like morsels at Zinnia.Photo: Zinnia

Although Tuscany and Tokyo are perennially enticing, lately we've been getting more excited about our own backyard. And we're not the only ones; this year's Hot Tables list is full of stellar domestic restaurants. Here are some of Condé Nast Traveler editors' picks for low-key charmers:

Spur, Seattle: Helmed by two 20-something chefs, Spur is both playful and and ambitious. Homemade tagliatelle, served with a duck egg cooked sous vide,
is topped with oyster mushroom and Parmesan foam; a smoked potato soup
arrives in six different pieces. Whiskey is the
liquor of choice, with some 90 varieties behind the bar.

Zinnia, San Francisco: After
the city's celebrated Myth restaurant closed last year, chef Sean
O'Brien found new digs just around the corner. At Zinnia, he continues
to serve rustic modern Italian dishes such as rigatoni with foie gras
and seared gnocchi with wild boar Bolognese.

Holeman & Finch, Atlanta: It's hard to decide what's best about Atlanta gastro-preneur Linton
Hopkins's classy new Holeman & Finch. Is it the food, a bracing
hodgepodge of Southern and neo-Southern delicacies like crawfish
beignets and griddled hen-of-the-woods mushrooms with Anson Mills
polenta? Then again,
maybe it's the fact that at 10 P.M. a bullhorn proclaims it's "burger
time" and a crowd clamors to order the supremely juicy hamburgers
before they sell out (about five minutes later).

The Redhead, New York: The Redhead's bacon brittle may be the year's top (or at least most
blogged-about) snack, and with good reason: Salty cocktail peanuts
tossed with crumbles of lightly candied bacon are an addictive combo.
But that's just the beginning at this cozy East Village charmer. In
addition to that famed brittle, chef Meg Grace has a contender for the
city's best buttermilk fried chicken, plus smoky duck and andouille
sausage gumbo and well-balanced salads.